Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn is still targeting Mercedes and fifth place in the constructors' championship after the gap between the two teams remained at 20 points following the Korean Grand Prix.

Sauber has closed the gap over the last four races with podiums in Italy and Japan and is now aiming to overtake the German manufacturer before the end of the year. Kaltenborn is confident her team has the potential to overtake Mercedes at the remaining four races despite both teams failing to score in Korea.

"With four podium places and now 116 world championship points, we can certainly be proud of our achievements so far as a private team," she said. "Of course there have been races where things didn't go to plan and we forfeited valuable points. Our car, the Sauber C31-Ferrari, is a great success and has proved competitive on virtually any kind of circuit.

"Some describe it as one of the best cars on the grid. Now it's a matter of carrying the impetus forward into the remaining four races. Our ambitious goal remains to finish fifth in the Constructors' World Championship. And I have the utmost confidence both in our team at Hinwil and in the crew at the track along with our two drivers, Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Pérez."

Sauber's next opportunity to take points away from Mercedes will be at the Indian Grand Prix next weekend and Kaltenborn is expecting more points.

"The track layout is very similar to that in Korea. There are slow and fast turns and quite a long straight. However, it will be warmer there and Pirelli is providing different tyres - soft and hard rather than the super-soft and soft ones we had in Korea. That will mean different race strategies. For the C31, the circuit in India is likely to be neither ideal terrain nor particularly problematic. I'm confident that we will manage another decent points haul there."